Gāthā Sentence Translation Sentence Structure
Vocabulary&Grammar Commentary Pronunciation
                          List of Abbreviations

cutiṃ yo vedi sattānaṃ upapattiṃ ca sabbaso

asattaṃ sugataṃ buddhaṃ tam ahaṃ brūmi brāhmaṇaṃ

(DhP 419)




Sentence Translation:

Who has thoroughly understood the arising and passing away of beings,
who is unattached, well-gone and awakened - him do I call a Brahmin.




Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

cutiṃ           yo            vedi   sattānaṃ upapattiṃ ca sabbaso
|                    |                 |            |             |         |       |
N.f.      Rel.Pron.m.    V.act.      N.m.      N.m.  conj. Adv.
Acc.Sg.   Nom.Sg.     3.Sg.aor. Gen.Pl.   Acc.Sg.   |       |
|___________|__________|_______|            |_____|       |
                    |                  |     |______________|           |
                    |                  |___________|____________|
                    |                           |______|
                    |__________________|
                                    |_______________________________________

List of Abbreviations

asattaṃ sugataṃ buddhaṃ   tam      ahaṃ        brūmi   brāhmaṇaṃ
|                 |              |           |             |               |              |
Adj.m.  Adj.m.     Adj.m.  Pron.m.   Pron.       V.act.       N.m.
Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg.   Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg.  Nom.Sg.  1.Sg.pres.  Acc.Sg.
|_________|________|______|              |               |              |
                                      |___________|________|________|
                                                          |     |_____|
                                                          |______|
___________________________________|




Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

cutiṃ: cuti-, N.f.: vanishing, decease. Acc.Sg. = cutiṃ.

yo: yad-, Rel.Pron.: that which. Nom.Sg.m. = yo.

vedi, V.: understood, knows. The verb root is vid- (to know). 3.Sg.act.aor. = vedi.

sattānaṃ: satta-, N.m.: being. Gen.Pl. = sattānaṃ.

upapattiṃ: upapatti-, N.m.: birth, coming into existence. It is derived from the verb root pat- (to fly) with the prefix upa- (to, into, towards). Acc.Sg. = upapattiṃ.

ca, conj.: and.

sabbaso, Adv.: altogether, thoroughly. It is derived from the word sabba-, Adj.: all.

List of Abbreviations

asattaṃ: asatta-, Adj.: not clinging, unattached. It is the word satta-, Adj. (this is a p.p. of the verb root saj-, to cling) negated by the negative particle a-. Acc.Sg.m. = asattaṃ.

sugataṃ: sugata-, Adj.: well-gone, an epithet of the Buddha. It is a p.p. of the verb root gam- (to go) preceded by the prefix su- (well). Acc.Sg. = sugataṃ.

buddhaṃ: buddha-, Adj.: Awakened, Enlightened. It is a pp. of the verb root budh-, to awaken. Acc.Sg.m.: buddhaṃ.

tam: tad-, Pron.: it. Masculine form: so-, he. Acc.Sg. = tam (him).

ahaṃ, Pron.: I. Nom.Sg. = ahaṃ.

brūmi, V.: [I] say, proclaim. The verb root is brū-. 1.Sg.act.in.pres. = brūmi.

brāhmaṇaṃ: brāhmaṇa-, N.m.: Brahmin, a holy man. Acc.Sg. = brāhmaṇaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of two connected sentences. They are:
    1) cutiṃ yo vedi sattānaṃ upapattiṃ ca sabbaso (who has thoroughly understood the arising and passing away of beings). The subject is the relative pronoun yo (who, nominative singular). The verb is vedi (knows, 3rd person, singular, active, aorist). It has an attribute, the adverb sabbaso (thoroughly). There are two objects, cutiṃ (passing away, accusative singular) and upapattiṃ (arising, accusative singular). They have an attribute, the noun sattānaṃ (of beings, genitive plural). They are connected by the conjunction ca (and).
    2) asattaṃ sugataṃ buddhaṃ tam ahaṃ brūmi brāhmaṇaṃ (who is unattached, well-gone and awakened - him do I call a Brahmin). The subject of this sentence is the pronoun ahaṃ (I, nominative singular). The verb is brūmi ([I] say, 1st person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the noun brāhmaṇaṃ (Brahmin, accusative singular). It has four attributes, the pronoun tam (him, accusative singular) and the adjectives asattaṃ (unattached, accusative singular), sugataṃ (well-gone, accusative singular) and buddhaṃ (awakened, accusative singular).




Commentary:

    In Rājagaha there lived a Brahmin Vaṅgīsa who had a special knowledge. He would tap on the skull of a dead person and from that he could tell where that person had been reborn.
    Once he heard that the Buddha also could tell the person's next birth so he came to contest the Buddha.
    There were skulls of people reborn in hell, as animals, as human, as a god and the skull of an Arahant. Vaṅgīsa knew all of them -- except the last one. He asked the Buddha if he could teach him this skill. The Buddha told him to become a monk and that he will teach him.
    As a monk, Vaṅgīsa soon attained the Awakenment and did not need this skill any more -- and told his friends that he had reached the Arahantship. The Buddha confirmed his attainment with this verse.




Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

cutiṃ
yo
vedi
sattānaṃ
upapattiṃ
ca
sabbaso
asattaṃ
sugataṃ
buddhaṃ
tam
ahaṃ
brūmi
brāhmaṇaṃ